Meg and Alex finish up their Sunday Morning conversation around two quotes: 1. Equity is about reducing the predictability of who succeeds and who fails. and 2. The neighborhood gave up on me so I gave up on myself.  The We Got This Garden was mentioned a couple of times and is linked here. ...Read More

Are some neighborhoods designed to fail the people that live in them?  My neighborhood produces many excellent people but it also produces a lot of people the world would call failures.  People who are in jail, people who don’t graduate high school, people who don’t make above the poverty threshold.  Who’s responsibility is it that...Read More

Yesterday, I was driving down Fond du Lac Ave and a car passed me going really fast.  I watched the car swerve around cars right and to the left then all of a sudden it had to swerve around something and ended up driving over the median, did a u-turn (luckily not rolling or hitting...Read More

Our car broke this weekend.  The wheel was bent in a crazy direction and it reminded me of  seeing this same thing on 8th Street to many cars that just happened to be driving by and hit an unfortunate bump in the road. Many of those cars were stranded for hours, with kids just sitting...Read More

We started our the school year yesterday virtually.  It was a tough day, our kids definitely had their ups and downs but Alex and I work from home and have a lot of flexibility in our day.  I don’t worry about our kids getting a good education because I know we can put in place...Read More

I looked out my window to see a group of protestors on the bridge across from our house today.   I felt a little sad when I realized that the protesters weren’t out there for Black Lives Matter (they were protesting abortion).  I don’t want to discuss their protest, that isn’t the point here.  I...Read More

Living in the inner city is hard sometimes. I see and feel the weight of oppression that many have to deal with here.  I want things to be easy for my neighbors but I know they’re not.  Yesterday, I heard 6 firetrucks responding to homes around me and I smelled smoke from my house.  I...Read More

In the car this morning Dex asked me if it was legal for someone to sleep in their cars.  I told him I was not totally sure but I thought it was illegal.  I then I went on to tell him a few months ago we had someone in front of our house that slept...Read More

We have many neighbors that have liven on 8th Street for decades and it is always sad when they leave.  Recently, a neighbor of ours lived who lived her home for over 50 years recently got sick and moved into elder care.  Her family helped her decide that the home should go up for sale...Read More

I was down at the lakefront yesterday and I saw a Black man wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt.  I really wanted to go up to him and say, “Yes, Black lives do matter.”  It made me think of why someone needs to wear a shirt saying their life matters.  It seems so backwards that...Read More